Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Elphaba makes it to Sarima, Fiyero’s widow. Sarima welcomes her in, and Elphaba immediately tries to confess to her part in Fiyero’s death. Sarima interrupts her, unwilling to hear the story.

Winter in their land is difficult. Elphaba, Liir, and Chistery the monkey baby move into the rooms in Sarima’s tower. Still, Sarima refuses to hear Elphaba’s confession about Fiyero, suspecting that Elphaba must subconsciously want to hurt her by unburdening herself. Sarima knows that Fiyero was killed violently, that his body was never found, and that it had happened in a lover’s den. Beyond these facts, Sarima doesn’t want to know anything else. Elphaba has no choice but to accept Sarima’s offer for hospitality.

Sarima’s sisters tell Elphaba about Fiyero’s death. A messenger came to tell them of the scene: massive amounts of blood in a room in a disreputable area, no body. Sarima had suspected Fiyero of having an affair with Glinda, whose beauty he highly regarded. Sarima theorizes that Glinda’s husband had Fiyero killed, but her sisters suspect that Fiyero was involved with some dangerous political dealings. After all, why would a jealous husband hide the body? The scene sounds more like the murder of a spy than a cuckold.

One day, Elphaba runs into Sarima in the library. Elphaba has been enjoying a peculiar book called the Grimmerie, which Sarima received from a passing sorcerer. Elphaba keeps the book in her room and uses it to try to teach Chistery language in the hopes that he can be her key to reviving Doctor Dillamond’s old Animal research.

Sarima and her family ask Elphaba about her broom. Elphaba was given the broom by a woman named Yackle, who told her it would be the key to her future. Sarima’s children play with Liir but are not kind to him. Her son Manek convinces Liir to hide in the basement well and leaves him there.

A convoy of visitors arrive, including Nanny, to Elphaba’s delight. Nanny has been searching high and low for Elphaba, and finally traced her to Sarima’s home. Nanny moves in. Liir is still missing.

Finally, Chistery finds Liir seemingly dead in the well. The adults pull him out, and Elphaba revives him. In vengeance, she breaks an icicle over Manek’s head and kills him.

A year later, Elphaba and her family are still at Sarima’s. Nanny recounts how Glinda visited Nessarose, now the Eminent Thropp, and bewitched her sparkling ruby shoes so that Nessarose can now walk and sit straight without any help.

Elphaba has a difficult time understanding who or why Liir is. When she saved Liir from the well, he told her that fish in the well revealed that Fiyero is his father. Nanny asks if Liir is her son. Elphaba confesses that it’s possible, but that her state of mind upon arriving at the convent was so muddled that she doesn’t recall giving birth.

Elphaba searches the Grimmerie for a way to overthrow a regime. She is surprised to find an image of a woman-fiend named Yakal who reminds Elphaba of Mother Yackle.

One day, Sarima’s daughter Nor wanders the countryside contemplating her life and the loss of her brother when she comes across a group of soldiers. Nor approaches the men and brings them to her home. Elphaba tries to get rid of the men, but when they declare that they work on behalf of the Wizard and need lodging while they conduct work in the area, Sarima invites them to stay with her.

In another conversation with Nanny about the past, Nanny speaks about finding Yackle for Melena’s potion. Contrary to how Melena talked about her upbringing, Melena had married Frex to get away from the responsibilities of becoming Eminent Thropp. Now that Nessa has the position, Elphaba worries that maybe “Nessie didn’t want the position of Eminence, and was just as incarcerated there as her older sister was here” (323). Elphaba considers whether she owes Nessa a chance at freedom, wondering, “Yet how much really could you owe other people? Was it endless?” (323).

Nor becomes enamored with the soldiers. She cleans up after them and delights in their attentions. One day, while cleaning their quarters, she reaches for Elphaba’s broom and is shocked to find that it floats to her. She rides the broom up into the sky until Elphaba calls it back. It takes Elphaba a few nights to learn how to control the broom.

A letter arrives for Nanny from Frex. Nessarose has led a coup against the Wizard, and Munchkinland has declared itself independent of Oz. Frex asks Nanny to send Elphaba if she finds her; he worries that Nessa is not the right woman for the job. Now that Elphaba can fly on the broom, she figures she can fly to visit her family and then return quite quickly.

It takes Elphaba a week of flying and resting to get to Colwen Grounds. She is surprised that the farmland of Munchkinland is lush while the roads look destroyed. It is Elphaba’s first visit to Colwen Grounds, and she is impressed by its largesse. When Elphaba arrives, she is reunited with her father for the first time in years. Frex is happy to see her but disappointed that she is a witch. He shares his concerns about Munchkinland: that Nessa is too persuadable, and that Shell is too impulsive to survive long when real war starts.

Elphaba attends hearings with Nessa and is angered when a townswoman offers Nessa Animals in exchange for putting a spell on a woodcutter’s axe. Nessa agrees, and Elphaba is surprised that she has the powers of a witch. She is even more shocked by poorly Animals are now treated. The townswoman delivers the Animals, a Cow and a Sheep. Elphaba goes to visit them and set them free, but the Cow laughs her off, pointing out that there is nowhere for them to go.

Elphaba refuses to take over Nessa’s role, but Frex wants her to consider working as Nessa’s primary advisor. Elphaba brings up Turtle Heart, and Frex admits that both he and Melena were in love with him. If Nessa is Turtle Heart’s child, Frex loves her even more because she is a piece of Turtle Heart still in his life. Elphaba warns Nessa not to be a martyr for someone else’s cause, then bids her goodbye.

On her flight back to Sarima’s house, Elphaba thinks deeply about the world and the cause and effect of life and politics. She wonders if Yackle and Morrible could be the same person. When Elphaba returns, she finds Nanny distraught. After Elphaba left, the soldiers took Sarima and her children away, along with other villagers who were chained up. Though the soldiers left Liir behind, he too is gone. Only Nanny and Chistery are left.